In the lovely peaceful settings on Stoneleigh Park this conference jointly organised by Fresh Start and Easton College had the aims to look at;
‘Who are the next generation of farmers?
What is being done to ensure they have the tools and support to become established as business men and women who have a real impact on UK farming?’
So did it achieve those aims? Now I love the idea of conferences, it’s a day out, the food is normally good and it is a chance to meet lots of jolly interesting people with lots of interesting ideas. However quite often I come away and feel that it’s missed the point or failed to deliver what it set out to do.
This conference was no different, the company was good and the ideas and motivations excellent, but I do feel it failed to really get to grips with the problem. But what is the problem? It really is such a big subject a weeklong conference would likely to be needed. The most important thing is it happened and that is part of the first steps. Several speakers suggested succession planning for farms will take 15 years; maybe it will take 15 years for the industry to come up with a plan how it is going to deal with the recruitment and retention of youngsters.
There was certainly some interesting speakers that are worthy of noting! Luckily I booked to attend the meal the night before, so I was privileged to listen to Sir Don Curry as the pre dinner speaker. Although not all farmers agree I have always thought the Sir Don speaks a lot of sense and his food and farming report after foot and mouth helped us decide the direction our farming career took. He has recently headed a report into the importance of council farms and he told us his concerns about the vulnerability of the council estates in the current economic climate and how he had just issued a press release condemning Gloucester Councils decision to terminate tenancies and sell farms. His solution to the lack of farms to rent for new entrants is to work with estates and landowners to create opportunities.
The first speaker during the day was Dr Matt Lobly from Exeter University who for many years has been collecting farm transfer data both nationally and internationally. He showed us some very interesting slides, that in his interpretation said, yes there is a problem with farmers making some sort of succession plan, but the problem in the UK is not half as bad as most other countries. An interesting point he pulled out was the small number of daughters be included in the plans. He talked about the ‘Succession Effect’ where a succession plan drives the business forward and stimulates expansion. He also quoted a government survey from 1979 that showed concern that farming was in danger of becoming closed shop which created lower levels of innovation and less business dynamism.
The other Inspirational speaker was John Baker from Iowa State University and he runs the Beginner Farmer Centre. He set out how they are dealing with the same problems in Iowa. Sorting out succession plans, matching new entrants and farms and the tax breaks that now available to get these things moving. And it seems to be working, but from the figures we saw earlier there were greater problems to sort out.
Other interesting people to note include Denis Chamberlain MBE who is the chair of fresh start and is committed to the next generation, Richard Longthorpe a pig farmer that is driving the Agriskills forum forward to try and improve the skill levels and professionalism in farming, Mike Mack a recent Nuffield scholar who is keen to get a national Mentoring program going, Henry Cator from RASE who is also farmer and land agent and the case studies that included Christina Hope that runs a village shop from her parents farm and David and Lizzie Otley who trade as Blue Welly farm and produce pork for direct sales and hog roasts and would just like 10 acres in one place to make a living form.
So quite a mix of ideas, some of which has given me some thoughts where to go next. But the whole event has left me a bit uneasy that still farmers are not yet ready to embrace the next generation, but I’m hoping that this maybe just the start on something that will contribute to the future success of our industry
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